


Sometimes Expectations Are Nothing Like Reality

by dangerouspheels



Series: Sometimes... (a check, please! series) [3]
Category: Check Please! (Webcomic)
Genre: Bitty comes out to his parents, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-07-01
Updated: 2017-07-01
Packaged: 2018-11-21 22:24:47
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,185
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11366871
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/dangerouspheels/pseuds/dangerouspheels
Summary: After Jack gets outed, Bitty comes out to his parents. Their reactions are not really what he expected.





	Sometimes Expectations Are Nothing Like Reality

**Author's Note:**

> Okay so this is just a little thing that I felt was important to Bitty's story. I should've written this into the original work, but it's too late for that I guess so here it is.  
> This happens between chapter 1 and chapter 2 of Sometimes Planes Crash.  
> I hope you enjoy it!

A gasp and the sudden empty space beside him woke Jack up out of his thoughts. Thanks to Bitty, they had been mostly happy. He had thought about all the dates he would take his boyfriend on, about their future, their children, about everything that had just become a real possibility instead of a far-away dream.

But then a car honked and Jack turned around, and there was Bitty, frozen in the middle of the road.

“Bits!”

Jack ran, and he thanked god for giving him the height and weight advantage to be able to pick Bitty up and drag him to the sidewalk, because Bitty stayed completely motionless in Jack’s arms.

“Bits?” Jack asked cautiously, putting Bitty down on the sidewalk and cupping his face, “What’s wrong?”

Bitty’s breath sped up, his lower lip started quivering and his eyes filled with tears.

“My parents,” he croaked, and the first tear ran down his cheek, “they’re gonna see.”

Jack’s heart sank. He hadn’t even thought about the Bittles. He had never even stopped to consider how these pictures could affect Bitty.

“I can deny it, I’ll call George and PR and they’ll find a way, I promise,” he rambled.

The confusion was visible on Bitty’s face as he finally looked up at Jack.

“What? No!” he exclaimed, “Jack, I can’t stay in the closet forever. Tonight made me realize how much I want to do this, how much I want to be able to be with you in public. But-,” he choked on his words, “but what if- what if they hate me? What if my mom will never-”

He collapsed into Jack’s chest.

Jack held him, tears rolling down over his own cheeks.

“I- I might never hear my mom say she loves me again,” Bitty sobbed, “m-my dad, he might never tell me about his stupid football team during a barbeque again.”

He was quiet for a while, and Jack didn’t know what to say. He desperately wanted to promise that everything would be fine, but he knew he couldn’t. He knew that every one of Bitty’s fears was justified, and that, no matter how much Jack loved him, he couldn’t guarantee that his parents would be able to love their Dicky if he was gay.

“I might never be able to go home,” Bitty whispered, and Jack’s heart broke into a million pieces.

He knew that he couldn’t promise that everything would be okay, but he could promise this: “Then we will give you a new home, and a new family. The team, and the Falcs, and their partners – they all adore you and would gladly sell their kidneys for one piece of your pies –  and my parents, and me, because we all love you for who you are,” he pressed a kiss to his forehead, “I love you.”

To Jack’s surprise, Bitty chuckled through his tears.

“Bad Bob Zimmermann loves me, huh? Now that’s something I wouldn’t have expected five years ago.”

Jack laughed into Bitty’s hair.

“Bits, five years ago you didn’t even know who Bad Bob Zimmermann was.”

“Touché, Mr Zimmermann.”

Jack pulled away and dragged his thumbs across Bitty’s tear-chained cheeks.

“Let’s go home, eh? Then you can call them, if you want. Maybe they haven’t seen the news yet.”

Bitty nodded and got up.

“Okay. I’ll call them.”

 

Tears were streaming down Bitty’s face again before they even reached Jack’s apartment, but Jack didn’t say anything. He just let Bitty crush his hand, opened the doors for him because he honestly wasn’t sure he wouldn’t walk into them, and guided him to the couch as soon as they got inside.

“Okay bud, do you want to call your parents now?” Jack asked,

Bitty looked like a deer caught in the headlights.

“I… I don’t know. Do you think I should?”

Jack sat down on the floor in front of the couch, carefully thinking over his words.

“You… I think that’s not my decision to make. I would totally understand if you don’t want to. But…” he paused, making sure he chose the right words, “But I think if you call them now, you can tell them your story yourself. Because if you don’t do it, the media will do it for you, and there will be nice articles, but there will also be a lot of bigoted people that will do everything they can to make other people believe that this is bad, that this is wrong. If you call your parents now, you can tell them the real story, the happy story. The story of a frightened boy who became a beautiful, strong young man who found himself a boyfriend who loves him very much.”

He pressed his lips against Bitty’s forehead, allowing him to think about it and consider his options.

Minutes passed in silence, but by the way Bitty’s grip on Jack’s arm tightened and his breath quickened and quickened, Jack knew Bitty had made his decision even before he let out a shaky breath and nodded.

“Okay,” he announced, “I need to call them.”

“Okay,” Jack smiled, “do you want me to, uh… leave you alone for a second?”

“No, no!” Bitty panicked, “Please, stay.”

Jack pressed a kiss to the crown of his head and pulled him into his lap.

“I’m here, bud. I’m here.”

 

The phone rang once, twice, it kept ringing, and with every ring Bitty’s face fell a little more. He looked like he was about to give up when Suzanne’s sleepy voice made his breath hitch.

“Dicky? Why are you calling? Is everything okay?”

“Mama,” he choked, “you- you don’t know what I’m calling about?”

“No,” Suzanne sounded a lot more awake now, “honey, are you hurt?”

“No, no, I’m fine,” Bitty assured her, “But please don’t check your phone, or the news. And tell coach that too. We, uh… we need to talk.”

Jack squeezed Bitty’s hand that was not holding the phone and smiled encouragingly.

“Of course, honey! Maybe we can skype?” Suzanne suggested, and in the background Jack could hear Bitty’s dad wake up.

Bitty swallowed.

“Uh, yeah, okay. Give me a minute,” and he hung up.

His breathing rhythm became quick and erratic.

“Jack, I…”

Jack moved to sit on his knees on the floor in front of Bitty and took his hands.

“Bits, look at me.”

Bitty’s wide eyes locked onto Jack’s and started watering again.

“Okay, now breathe with me. Concentrate on my breathing.”

The room was quiet for a while except for their breathing, and slowly Bitty’s synced with Jack’s.

“I’m here, Bits. Whatever they say, I’m here, your friends are here. You have a family here.”

Bitty nodded and rested his forehead against Jack’s for a minute before rising to get his laptop.

 

“Dicky!” a sleepy Suzanne exclaimed as soon as she appeared on the screen.

“M-mama,” Bitty stuttered, “I, uh, I’m just- is Coach there?”

Suzanne disappeared for a second and returned a few seconds later with Bitty’s dad.

“What’s going on, junior?” he asked, sounding half asleep but concerned.

Bitty’s bottom lip started quivering and his hands were shaking. From behind the laptop, Jack took his hands, nodded reassuringly and mouthed, “I love you”.

Bitty nodded back, probably to encourage himself.

Suzanne noticed and asked, “Dicky, what are you looking at? Is there someone there with you?”

Bitty closed his eyes, took a deep breath and answered, “Yes. Yes, there is someone with me.”

“Who is there? Junior, what’s going on?”

“My boyfriend,” Bitty blurted out.

Silence.

“I-,” he started, “My boyfriend’s here. I’m gay.”

 Jack wished he could see their faces, because Bitty’s told him nothing.

“Your- your boyfriend,” Suzanne croaked, either already crying or trying very hard not to.

“Yes.”

Bitty sounded and looked strangely calm. In that moment, Jack would’ve given anything to take a look inside his head, to know how he was feeling.

Just like Jack, he was visibly surprised when Coach spoke, though.

“Do we know him? Your… your boyfriend?” he asked, sounding a lot less distressed than his wife.

Suzanne laughed almost hysterically.

“Richard honey, Dicky obviously doesn’t have a b- a boyfriend, that’d be… He’s obviously kidding! Now what’s really going, honey?”

Bitty sighed and Jack’s heart broke into a thousand pieces. He hadn’t been expecting easy acceptance and tears of joy, but hearing the harsh reality of denial shattered that tiny bit of hope he had still been holding onto.

Bitty’s tear-filled eyes locked onto his, begging for help, and that was it.

Jack wouldn’t let him do this alone. He moved to sit next to his boyfriend in front of the laptop, checking the screen to see if Bitty’s parents could see him clearly.

“Hello, Mrs. And Mr. Bittle.”

“Hello, son,” Coach said, and he… didn’t seem surprised?

Suzanne, on the other hand, looked even more confused than she had sounded.

“Jack, honey, what are you doing at Samwell? Don’t you live in Providence these days? Are you okay?” she asked.

Jack sighed. “Yes, Mrs. Bittle, I’m okay. In fact, I’m great, because I have a beautiful boyfriend who’s here with me in Providence for the weekend.”

“You too!” Suzanne laughed, “I don’t understand all the jokes these days!”

“It’s not a joke, ma’am,” Jack insisted, “I love your son very much, and I intend to marry him someday, so I sincerely hope you and your husband can be okay with that.”

Suzanne choked.

“You- no you can’t, I mean… Dicky isn’t- you’re…”

Coach made some shushing noises and rubbed her back, “Honey, calm down.”

“Why are you so calm about this?!” Suzanne exclaimed, “Are you okay with this?”

Coach sighed.

“I’m, uh… I can’t say I understand but, you know… we knew it was coming, and Junior looks happy, so maybe we just need to take some time to calm down and get used to it.”

Both Jack and Bitty were watching this exchange completely dumbfounded, too surprised to even react.

“ _We knew it was coming?_ I didn’t know anything!” Suzanne cried, exasperated, “It’s not like I was expecting my son to be- to be _gay_!” she spat the word like it had personally offended her, and Bitty sounded incredibly small when he spoke again.

“Dad, you- you knew?” he asked.

“I suspected,” he admitted, “I mean, the baking and the figure skating, and that singer, what’s her name?”

Bitty laughed, and Jack’s breath hitched at the sound.

“Beyoncé, coach. Her name is Beyoncé.”

“Yes, her,” Coach continued, “it just all kind of… pointed in that direction, you know? But I was scared to admit it, even to myself, because what would that mean for us? Having a g- gay son? But then you came home last summer and Jack visited and you looked so incredibly happy. So I thought, maybe I don’t need to understand it, I don’t need to fully agree with it. I don’t need to do anything. Maybe it’s enough to just be happy that you’re happy.”

Bitty didn’t even try to hide the tears streaming down his face.

“I am. I’m so happy, dad.”

Suzanne was still shaking her head.

“I’m sorry, I can’t, I don’t know,” she said.

Bitty’s face fell and he nodded.

“I just, I called because something happened tonight,” he steered away the conversation, “Uh, so, some asshole reporter filmed me and Jack… together. He, uh, published the video, outing Jack, so you’ll probably see that in the news tomorrow. I just didn’t want you to find out from the news, that’s why I called,” he explained.

Both of his parent’s eyes went wide.

“So, everyone- everyone knows?” Suzanne asked.

“Yes.”  

Suzanne swallowed, looking as if she might faint at any moment.

Coach chimed in before she could react, though.

“Okay, I think we need some time to think about this, Junior. We’ll call you.”

“Okay,” Bitty nodded, “I, uh… I’ll talk to you later.”

Bitty’s obvious fear to tell his parents he loved them broke Jack’s heart.

“We love you, Junior.”

Bitty gasped, and fresh tears dropped down. His mother’s silence didn’t escape him, but Jack knew that this was already more than he had ever expected.

“Coach, I-,” Bitty sobbed, “I love you too.”

“Richard, what-”

The call disconnected.

Bitty stared at the laptop for a few long seconds before turning to Jack and collapsing against his chest.

“They, my dad,” he hiccupped, “he- he loves me.”

Jack tightened his arms around his boyfriend and kissed his forehead.

“Yes, he does. And your mom will come around too. You’re going to be fine,” he assured him through his own tears.

“I- I’m going to be fine,” Bitty repeated.

He yawned, and Jack chuckled.

“Let’s go to sleep. It’s been a long day,” he suggested.

“’Kay,” Bitty agreed, snuggling up to Jack.

“I love you,” Jack whispered, pressing another kiss to Bitty’s forehead before gathering him up in his arms to carry him to the bedroom.

Bitty, only half awake at this point, whispered back, “I love you too, sweetheart, so much,” before closing his eyes and drifting off to sleep before Jack even reached the bed.

**Author's Note:**

> So that's how i think the Bittles would react. I think Suzanne doesn't realise - or want to realise - that her son is 'different' because the things that make him different bring him closer to her. Coach, on the other side, noticed much sooner because his son doesn't do with him what 'normal' boys do with their fathers, like sports talk etc.  
> Anyway, let me know what you think, and thanks for reading!


End file.
